Phillip Storey, Head of Design and Engineering at Marshalls Landscaping, examines how the decisions made before procurement influence the rest of the project, and why builders’ merchants benefit from earlier technical collaboration.
Today’s construction projects are more demanding than ever and the most important decisions on a project are often made before a single product is ordered. Expectations around sustainability, compliance, buildability and cost have all increased, while programmes and budgets remain under constant pressure.
With less room for error, decisions made during the design stage carry more weight than ever before — and by the time a project reaches a builders’ merchant, many of the decisions that determine whether it runs smoothly have already been made. For merchants therefore, that difference often becomes visible long before the first delivery leaves the yard and a well-specified project tends to generate confidence. However, a poorly resolved one generates questions.
Late specification changes. Product substitutions. Disputed quantities. Returns, credit notes and calls to check what was actually meant. These are all things that any builders’ merchants will know too well.
They create unnecessary administration, tie up stock and add complexity to projects that should be straightforward. Yet the causes often sit much further upstream than procurement itself and are often symptoms of choices made much earlier in the project.
As a result, what we’re seeing across the industry is customers involving manufacturers much earlier in projects. They’re looking beyond products alone and drawing on technical expertise to help shape schemes that are buildable, sustainable and commercially viable.
“Rather than resolving uncertainty or managing last-minute substitutions, merchants can focus on supporting delivery, confident that the key technical decisions underpinning the order have already been properly worked through.”
Increasingly, this means engaging specialist teams such as Marshalls Design & Engineering (MaDE) during the design and specification stages, where technical expertise can have the greatest influence on project outcomes.
Whether it’s decisions around specification, material selection, buildability or engineering, choices made during the design stage have a significant impact on every stage that follows. When those decisions are made well, projects are far more likely to remain on programme, within budget and deliver on the original vision.
When they aren’t, those consequences often don’t become fully apparent until procurement, where unclear specifications, late changes and technical queries can all create unnecessary complexity.
Project teams are now looking for specialist expertise that helps them make better decisions while there’s still an opportunity to influence the outcome. Whether that’s challenging a specification, testing how a design will be delivered, reducing embodied carbon or exploring value engineering opportunities, they want informed input that helps them make better technical decisions before designs become fixed.
The timing of that involvement is equally important. Once a project is on site, even relatively small changes can affect materials, labour, logistics and programme. While options remain open, however, there is far greater opportunity to explore alternatives, resolve technical challenges and understand the implications of different choices before they become expensive changes or unnecessary complexity during procurement.
This is where specialist knowledge can make a real difference. Digital modelling can help project teams understand how a proposed design will work before installation begins. Engineering expertise can identify whether construction depths, loading requirements or site conditions introduce unnecessary complexity. Material knowledge can also highlight opportunities to reduce cost or embodied carbon without compromising performance or quality.
The growing emphasis on earlier technical collaboration benefits everyone involved in the construction process. It’s exactly why we brought our design, engineering and digital specialists together into Marshalls Design and Engineering (MaDE) — a dedicated team that customers can bring into projects to support design, engineering and specification decisions.
The expertise already existed across the business. Bringing it together into one team simply reflected the way customers increasingly wanted to engage with manufacturers: earlier, and with access to joined-up technical support throughout a project.
That earlier involvement creates the greatest opportunity to influence a project’s success. While key decisions are still being made, ideas can be tested, options explored and potential challenges resolved before they affect programme, cost or delivery.
The benefits extend well beyond the design team. From a merchant’s perspective, the difference between a well-specified project and a poorly specified one is often obvious. The conversations are different. Rather than resolving uncertainty or managing last-minute substitutions, merchants can focus on supporting delivery, confident that the key technical decisions underpinning the order have already been properly worked through.
And by the time procurement begins, merchants benefit from clearer specifications, fewer late changes and greater confidence that what’s being ordered is right first time. That certainty can reduce unnecessary administration, minimise disruption to supply and help projects move more efficiently from specification through to delivery.
As projects become more complex and expectations continue to rise, I believe the manufacturers creating the greatest value won’t simply be those supplying materials. They’ll be the ones helping customers make better decisions before construction begins. Well-specified projects create better outcomes throughout the supply chain.
Clearer specifications and greater certainty mean procurement begins from a stronger position, giving builders’ merchants greater confidence in what they’re supplying and helping the wider supply chain perform more effectively.
Click here for more information on Marshalls Design & Engineering (MaDE).
